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Development - ASI Air Pro driver injection

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#51 moshen

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Posted 27 April 2021 - 06:55 PM

For INDI there is also KStars Android application but it's pretty poorly designed and it's not user friendly at all and doesn't work on all devices. I had to find an older version to work on my Google Nexus 6 which is all stock Android?!?!?! I was thinking of looking at the code to play around with it but again I spend 100% of my time on the ASIAir and I own all ZWO equipment. I am sure other manufactures offer solid stuff but it's all I know, like IKON who spent all that money on their name (I Know One Name) and it's how I feel about ZWO, nothing I have seen so far has shown me to move else where.

 

KStars for Android

https://m.apkpure.co...kde.kstars.lite

 

KStars Source Code

https://github.com/K.../README.android

I tried the Stellarmate app recently for iOS to interface with Stellarmate. It was incredibly buggy and I would not rely on it at all. 

 

The Optec focusers are nicer than the ZWO EAF for refractor Feathertouch focusers because it has a manual clutch release to allow for manual focusing any time. That would be the only reason to use Stellarmate or Astroberry on my ASIAIR but after spending a good number of hours trying Astroberry and Stellarmate I concluded I'm going to stick with the very reliable ASIAir app for field use.



#52 AnakChan

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Posted 27 April 2021 - 08:18 PM

Yeah I guess it would be a good place to start with, but as AnakChan said, the EAF/EFW are HID's and the ASIAIR probably talks to these natively.

But I guess I'll try to give it a shot smile.gif

 

I could be wrong but I think what moshen could be saying is that if you're able to recompile a 3rd party backend but to make it look like it's a ZWO EAF driver so the daemons may not know the difference. Kinda like this analogy....Jack is talking to someone who looks like Jill but really it's just John in a mask that looks like Jill. OK maybe too much Mission Impossible here.

 

 

I tried the Stellarmate app recently for iOS to interface with Stellarmate. It was incredibly buggy and I would not rely on it at all. 

 

The Optec focusers are nicer than the ZWO EAF for refractor Feathertouch focusers because it has a manual clutch release to allow for manual focusing any time. That would be the only reason to use Stellarmate or Astroberry on my ASIAIR but after spending a good number of hours trying Astroberry and Stellarmate I concluded I'm going to stick with the very reliable ASIAir app for field use.

 

This is disappointing to hear. I was getting a little dismayed with Astroberry that it :-

 

1) isn't "up to date" and always depends on the maintainers to adopt and port the latest INDI. So one is always "delayed" with Astroberry, and

2) it doesn't have a nice client app as VNC is somewhat slow

 

So I was thinking of going to StellarMate esp for #2. But if the tablet app is buggy and unreliable, that's disappointing.

 

Drifting away from the OPs topic, I think in the mid/long run Alpaca may be the way. Optec already supports Alpaca and you should be able to have that all connected and running on a Pi, and manage it with regular SGPro/N.I.N.A./Voyager scheduling apps.



#53 cucubits

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Posted 05 July 2021 - 06:35 PM

Interesting thread. I've been intrigued by the ASIAir Pro but never so much as to actually buy one. I do have a couple RPi4 boards for various projects and it would be cool to be able to test the ASI Air image without actually using their hardware. Has anyone ever tried this? If this should work and it's just a license file that blocks it, I wonder why ZWO aren't selling only the software part... 



#54 joeytroy

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Posted 05 July 2021 - 09:36 PM

Interesting thread. I've been intrigued by the ASIAir Pro but never so much as to actually buy one. I do have a couple RPi4 boards for various projects and it would be cool to be able to test the ASI Air image without actually using their hardware. Has anyone ever tried this? If this should work and it's just a license file that blocks it, I wonder why ZWO aren't selling only the software part... 

You can download the ZWO ASIAir image from their site but you also need a license key to get it to work. Each key is tied to the CPU serial number I believe, one thing that won't work is the power ports. ZWO manufactures the actual part and is specific to ZWO as shown by my image when I cracked her open

 

https://www.cloudyni...ion/?p=10875888

 

Here is the image you can try and flash it but again you need a license to make it work

 

https://astronomy-im...e_ASIAIR_OS.pdf



#55 cucubits

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Posted 05 July 2021 - 10:16 PM

Thanks, I'll see how far I can get with it. I don't mind not having the power distribution board, I already have that sorted on my imaging setup. I've already downloaded the image but I need to see about the license file it checks. I'm handy with unix (dayjob) so maybe I can find a way to bypass... or the correlation with cpuinfo.

 

By the way, your experiment from the initial post, maybe I can help test the driver. I have an RST-135.


Edited by cucubits, 05 July 2021 - 10:16 PM.


#56 glancey

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Posted 22 July 2021 - 02:18 PM

One advantage to unlocking ASIAir Pro is that now you can run CCDciel as a client and remotely connect to indiserver on the AAP from a laptop or other computer. No need to use your mobile device. You'll need to run indiserver with the drivers you want on the AAP from the command line. 

 

I tried installing indiweb on the AAP to simplify remote indiserver startup, but kept getting errors. If anyone has had success with that, please post your steps.

 

Glenn



#57 joeytroy

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Posted 22 July 2021 - 04:36 PM

Glenn,

 

Your best best is getting another mini SD card and just reloading it Ubuntu Server. Here is a decent walk through I created still a work in progress as I have not had a chance to test in the field but it works just fine with KStars.

 

 

https://justpaste.it/8zzp1



#58 cucubits

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Posted 18 August 2021 - 11:36 PM

Have you had any more luck with drivers for other cameras? I'm thinking about an Altair Hypercam. I don't have one but I'm considering getting one.



#59 AnakChan

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Posted 19 August 2021 - 01:23 AM

The difficulty with injecting 3rd party into ZWO's existing ASIAir's system so that you can take advantage of their device client app is that ZWO is making native calls for these devices. They're not making INDI (and of course not ASCOM) calls. The only INDI calls they do make is for the telescope mount - but all else in terms of API calls to the (main/guide) camera, or the focuser, are direct ZWO native. The ZWO libs are there.

Even if one knows the function names and try to mimic the same calls (but in the backend within the function manipulate to it be compatible to 3rd party/non-ZWO devices), I think the libraries are compiled into the zwo daemons. So I don't think it so simple plug 'n play in terms of the driver libraries.

 

Now that the ASIAir Plus is round the corner, let's see if they have written up the code the same way.



#60 calypsob

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Posted 20 August 2021 - 12:56 PM

Would there be a way to allow asi air pro to control 2 imaging cameras at once through unlocking the device? I assume something would need to be written. It would be awesome if you could either daisy chain 2 aap or have 1 unit control 2 cameras and deal with dithering

#61 unimatrix0

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Posted 20 August 2021 - 01:00 PM

Decided to crack open the beast and see what ZWO is hiding from us...well it's a USB power, HDMI ports and audio port that is what. I am thinking of purchasing the 8GB Pi model to replace the bottom base of the ZWO 4GB model https://www.amazon.c.../dp/B089ZSGF8M/ be intresting to see how much better it could work with 4 more GB of ram specially if I opt to play with AstroBerry some more. Still poking the beast and seeing if I can get other drivers to work...

 

Screen-Shot-2021-02-11-at-2-56-04-PM.png

 

Screen-Shot-2021-02-11-at-2-56-25-PM.png

Is that additional card with the power supply outlets available anywhere?  Or is it a custom order by ZWO only? 
I don't care about the asiar pro's software, but I'm gonna be building a Pi4 mini computer and I sure I could use some sort of a 12V power outlets attached to the Pi to achieve a better cable management. 



#62 joeytroy

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Posted 20 August 2021 - 01:20 PM

Would there be a way to allow asi air pro to control 2 imaging cameras at once through unlocking the device? I assume something would need to be written. It would be awesome if you could either daisy chain 2 aap or have 1 unit control 2 cameras and deal with dithering

Wes,

 

This would be a limitation of the software on the iPad or Android and the AAP. It's only designed to manage once camera, one EFW, one guide camera and one focuser at a time.

 

Is that additional card with the power supply outlets available anywhere?  Or is it a custom order by ZWO only? 
I don't care about the asiar pro's software, but I'm gonna be building a Pi4 mini computer and I sure I could use some sort of a 12V power outlets attached to the Pi to achieve a better cable management. 

unitmatrix,

 

Here is the power adapter that can be purchased separately.

 

https://www.cloudyni...ity/?p=11285192

 

If you check that full thread there is also released INDI drivers for it as well so you can use it with INDI and Kstars.The drivers also work with Stellermate and Astroberry as well as they are using INDI as well. Ideally I would recommend building straight ubuntu 64bit server so you can take advantage of using the RPi4/8GB of RAM as Stellermate and Astroberry are not using 64bit OS's. If you have the money you can also swing for the eMMC board as it will speed up the unit by 2.5x faster as well as shown with the new ASIAir Plus that was release today.

 

https://astronomy-im...uct/asiair-plus



#63 cucubits

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Posted 20 August 2021 - 01:20 PM

Would there be a way to allow asi air pro to control 2 imaging cameras at once through unlocking the device? I assume something would need to be written. It would be awesome if you could either daisy chain 2 aap or have 1 unit control 2 cameras and deal with dithering

I think that would be asking a bit too much from one rpi4 alone.



#64 dghent

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Posted 20 August 2021 - 01:43 PM

Is that additional card with the power supply outlets available anywhere?  Or is it a custom order by ZWO only? 
I don't care about the asiar pro's software, but I'm gonna be building a Pi4 mini computer and I sure I could use some sort of a 12V power outlets attached to the Pi to achieve a better cable management. 

Just answering because I tool around with RPis for my own projects, not because I'm an AAP user.

 

This just looks like a custom HAT module with 12V input, with switched (via relay, that tall silvery component near the middle of the board) 12V outputs. It feeds the 5V power that the rpi4 itself needs through the header connection on the 5V pins. The fact that "ASI_AIR V1.3" is silkscreened onto the HAT's pcboard is a pretty convincing indication that this their own design.

 

But 12V power relay HATs have existed for a long time and are not at all unique to the ASI Air. You can find plenty of examples in a google search, but one that I know of off the top of my head is this one.


Edited by dghent, 20 August 2021 - 01:43 PM.


#65 Denis7400

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Posted 10 November 2021 - 04:44 PM

I believe the /boot/zwoair_license serial is an encrypted form of the Raspberry Pi’s /proc/cpuinfo Serial.

May wanna check out about how it’s encrypted before changing the Pi h/w.

 

P.S. If you do have another Pi already you could try swapping then change the zwoair_license SN to your new Pi Serial, but I don’t know if you still keep the “license” value the same if it still works. Note that the license file is used by the 3 main ZWO software :-

 

~pi/ASIAIR/bin/zwoair_guider zwoair_updater zwoair_imager binaries.

 

Other parts/aspects RaspbianOS, recompiled INDI 1.8.8, etc will still work naturally.

Please tell me. did you manage to run the ZWO license file on another PI board? I ask because I have a first generation ASIair on a P3 board. I want to buy a new Pi4 board and run the ASIair software on it.



#66 AnakChan

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Posted 10 November 2021 - 06:09 PM

Please tell me. did you manage to run the ZWO license file on another PI board? I ask because I have a first generation ASIair on a P3 board. I want to buy a new Pi4 board and run the ASIair software on it.

No I've not tried. But as far as I know abut the licenses, it's bounded to the board. If you change your board with new serial/MAC address, etc. you'd have to mail ZWO to apply for a new license file.


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#67 _astronoob

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Posted 11 November 2021 - 09:28 AM

I can confirm that changing the hardware with a never model doesn't work. I remember finding something about a serial number when digging/hacking the AsiAIR I have. Able to decrypt the key is something but creating new keys is another level. You'd have to trick the license checker too, which would be breaching the terms of service you signed.

 

I'd reach to ZWO and ask to them if they'd be kind enough to provide a new license for a newer hardware.


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#68 Denis7400

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Posted 11 November 2021 - 10:34 AM

I can confirm that changing the hardware with a never model doesn't work. I remember finding something about a serial number when digging/hacking the AsiAIR I have. Able to decrypt the key is something but creating new keys is another level. You'd have to trick the license checker too, which would be breaching the terms of service you signed.

 

I'd reach to ZWO and ask to them if they'd be kind enough to provide a new license for a newer hardware.

Thanks! I understand. It will be easier to leave things as they are. And install Astroberry or StellarMate on the new Pi4. And I also read somewhere that ZWO does not provide new licenses for PI4 boards purchased not from them


Edited by Denis7400, 11 November 2021 - 10:36 AM.


#69 joeytroy

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Posted 11 November 2021 - 12:43 PM

Thanks! I understand. It will be easier to leave things as they are. And install Astroberry or StellarMate on the new Pi4. And I also read somewhere that ZWO does not provide new licenses for PI4 boards purchased not from them

The other option is to install Ubuntu Server with INDI and also PHD2 with KStars. I find it runs faster than Astroberry and Stellermate

 

https://github.com/j...upUbuntuINDI.md


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#70 Denis7400

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Posted 11 November 2021 - 01:01 PM

The other option is to install Ubuntu Server with INDI and also PHD2 with KStars. I find it runs faster than Astroberry and Stellermate

 

https://github.com/j...upUbuntuINDI.md

I don't know about this option yet. Now I will try. Thanks for the hint



#71 Denis7400

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Posted 20 November 2021 - 05:29 PM

Guys tell me who knows please. I am building my mini computer on RP4. For cooling, which is better to put radiators or a cooling fan? Or both heatsinks and a fan? Will the fan create vibration that will interfere with taking photographs of deep space objects?

 

Heatsinks on RP4
Cooling Fan on RP4


#72 msacco

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Posted 20 November 2021 - 05:32 PM

Guys tell me who knows please. I am building my mini computer on RP4. For cooling, which is better to put radiators or a cooling fan? Or both heatsinks and a fan? Will the fan create vibration that will interfere with taking photographs of deep space objects?

 

I'm using this exact same case, but I never tried using it on top of the scope, I did put it on the mount but I had no issues.



#73 Denis7400

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Posted 20 November 2021 - 05:41 PM

I'm using this exact same case, but I never tried using it on top of the scope, I did put it on the mount but I had no issues.

Do you use radiators and cooling fan at the simultaneously?


Edited by Denis7400, 20 November 2021 - 05:47 PM.


#74 msacco

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Posted 20 November 2021 - 05:50 PM

Do you use radiators and cooling fan at the simultaneously?

Yep I've set up both. I do have a different case for a second RPI4 that I used which is simply an aluminum heatsink case with no fan, it runs a bit hotter.


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#75 Denis7400

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Posted 20 November 2021 - 05:53 PM

Yep I've set up both. I do have a different case for a second RPI4 that I used which is simply an aluminum heatsink case with no fan, it runs a bit hotter.

Thank you for your help. I will then also install both the heatsinks and the cooling fan.




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